It’s that time of the year as the city of San Diego becomes the center of the pop culture world with San Diego Comic-Con. As with every year, San Diego Comic-Con is bringing the big announcements as everyone from DC Comics to Funimation is bringing big news that has fans yelling in excitement. Now with the first day of San Diego Comic-Con over there is so much news out there is a lot of things to already talk about.
TITANS TRAILER: ROBIN SAYS “F*CK BATMAN”
Even before the doors opened for the official first day of SDCC DC Comics released a trailer for the Titans. Right away, before the official trailer even began, DC Comics drove home the fact that Titans will be a TV-MA rated show. Having that mature rating already clues us into this being a show that will not hold back in the blood and swearing as other CW shows have to. That is hammered home by the line that everyone will remember from the trailer as Robin says “Fuck Batman.” That along with how we see extra violent scenes that showed Robin demolishing criminals and Hawk and Dove spilling blood in their fight with bad guys established the tone of the Titans series.
With everything that was shown it was clear that this was not necessarily the Titans show fans expected. From the material we did get to see Dick Grayson is the clear focal point as we can expect his evolution from Robin to Nightwing to be spotlighted. That along with how Raven was presented as the other major player does give hope for this series turning out well. Though I will say with how the CW shows have gone all in with showing us Martian Manhunter in his true form it is disappointing we won’t see a more comic accurate version of Starfire. Also, not seeing a villain like Deathstroke or Brother Blood in the trailer does not help get across what the series will be about beyond the young adult drama. Still, I’ll reserve judgement until watching the first episode since we also learned that characters like Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Superboy (Conner Kent) and Lex Luthor are supposed to appear.
Source: DC Comics YouTube
DC UNIVERSE STREAMING SERVICE ANNOUNCES PRICE
Along with the trailer for the Titans we also learned that the DC Universe streaming service will be priced at $7.99 monthly and a pre-sale price of $75 for one year and three months. That is a very competitive price point for DC Universe as it will directly compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. In addition to that we also learned that Geoff Johns would be writing and producing a Stargirl series for the platform. Even with all of this I am still on the fence with the DC Universe streaming service as I already have a large digital collection of the companies comics, movies and shows. Still, I’ll be very interested to see how the company builds out the DC Universe service
Source: Brian Cronin at CBR; Dominic Patter at Deadline
GRANT MORRISON TAKES OVER GREEN LANTERN
After some time away we learned that Grant Morrison is going to take over the Green Lantern franchise alongside Liam Sharp. Morrison has already shown that he knows how to write cosmic comics with his work on titles like Final Crisis and Multiversity. Even his Batman run had elements of supernatural that can work well with the cosmic side of the DC Universe. And with Morrison taking over Green Lantern it further elevates the series as one of the top tier titles at DC Comics.
Learning that Morrison will be pushing the idea of Hal Jordan as a space cop is a good foundation as it could be a good way of adding more layers to the Green Lantern Corps after the franchise has been focused on the War of Lights concept that Geoff Johns introduced. If successful this space cop turn will add yet another later to the Green Lantern franchise.
Source: Joshua Yehl at IGN
KELLY SUE DECONNICK HELMING AQUAMAN
As a big fan of Kelly Sue DeConnick I was instantly interested in Aquaman when learning that she was taking over the series. DeConnick did a fantastic job writing Captain Marvel during her time at Marvel that an Aquaman series will no doubt that she will do well. While I’m not very familiar with Robson Rocha’s artwork, taking a look at what he has done in the past with a quick Google search its clear that Aquaman will look great. Additionally, with DeConnick taking over Aquaman it is yet another big signing as DC Comics has assembled a Justice League roster of creators with her joining the ranks that include Brian Bendis, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, Tom King and much more.
Source: Chris Arrant at Newsarama
GEOFF JOHNS BRINGS BACK SHAZAM
It was only a matter of time before DC Comics announced they were launching an ongoing Shazam series. With a movie starring Zachary Levi as Shazam this was the least surprising announcement at SDCC. What was a great surprise is that Geoff Johns is going to be helming alongside the talented Dale Eaglesham. The cover alone is enough to convince me to buy this comic. Seeing that Johns and Eaglesham will be in charge of the series elevates my hype for a character I’ve never followed a solo series of.
Source: Brian Cronin at CBR
GEOFF JOHNS WRITING THREE JOKERS
The idea of there being multiple Jokers over the years is what Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder and Tom King have played around with the last few years. Now we are going to get an official confirmation of what is really behind the different Jokers we have seen over the course of Batman’s career. To give us the official story Johns is going to handling this story. The Three Jokers series could set the stage for an even bigger story down the line that involves the entire Batman Family. And given that Johns is still in the middle of writing Doomsday Clock there could be an even deeper connection to the Three Jokers to what else is going on in the DC Universe.
Source: Stephen Gerding at CBR
MARC SILVESTRI WRITING BATMAN AND JOKER TEAM-UP
We’ve gotten a lot of Batman and Joker stories. Their never ending battle with one another has now led us to the two rivals finally teaming up in Batman/Joker: Deadly Duo. Since this title will be part of DC’s Black Label line Marc Silvestri, the writer for the series, will have a lot of room to go darker than the normal Batman comics get. Given how dark Batman comics get at times that is saying a lot. The teaser alone shows us that this Batman and Joker team-up may not be a good thing for Gotham City as we see the buildings burning to the ground. How it will stand out from all the other Batman comics DC has announced that will be on the shelves during this time will be interesting to see.
Source: Todd Allen at The Beat
DC COMICS TURNS ATTENTION TO YOUNG ADULTS
The announced DC Ink and DC Zoom lines continues DC Comics trend of targeting every market they can. While these titles won’t be for me I commend DC Comics for opening the door to these markets that haven’t been targeted by comic books in the modern era. Having one of the top two companies launch this initiative will help bring more young people into the world of comics and discover similar titles that other companies like BOOM! Studios has been releasing lately.
Source: Jacob Oller at SyFy Wire
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHREDDER IN HELL ANNOUNCED
Shredder by far is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 villain. There has been no other TMNT villain that has surpassed him. So for IDW to give the Turtles #1 villain his own mini-series was a long time coming. And rather than just exploring Shredder’s backstory we are getting to see the villain’s adventures in Hell, where he deserves to be. Getting to see what kind of chaos Shredder could possibly cause in Hell could be fun. The setting can also add layers to the character as writer Mateus Santolouco adds to who Oroku Saki is as a person and bad guy.
Source: Jamie Lovett at ComicBook.com
COMIXOLOGY ANNOUNCES MORE CREATOR-OWNED COMICS
ComixOlogy has gone from the biggest digital comic distribution comic companies to developing their own publishing line. At SDCC we saw an even greater expansion of their creator-owned line that is exclusive to ComixOlogy. Seeing more doors open to creators to work on their own creations is great for all the talent involved. It’ll be interesting to see how ComixOlogy grows this publishing line as they continue to attract more talent to publish under their banner.
Source: Brandon Staley at CBR
GEORGE TAKEI WRITING GRAPHIC NOVEL MEMOIR
With all the big announcement from all corners of the entertainment industry it is easy to overlook some announcements. Star Trek George Takei writing a memoir graphic novel about his life as a childhood was one of those. The series will tell George Takei’s story as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. From the synopsis and other details this is clearly a personal story for Mr. Takei to tell and one that should be keep on everyone’s radar.
Source: Kevin Melrose at CBR